- Alcohol
- Drugs
Submitted by Sidney, Heroes in Recovery lead advocate
I met Craig at the Clean Break Mondays event back in June. He offered to share his story. My first impression was that Craig was a kind and gentle spirit. He had a gracious soul. He towered over me in height, but we were eye-to-eye when he shared his story.
Craig began his story in high school, a common place and time for struggles to begin. He grew up in an above-average income home. Money was not an issue. he has one brother and one sister, but he was the spoiled child. He attended private school in Mississippi. He participated in sports and excelled in football. His drinking started at 15 when he and his teammates would get drunk after the football games on Friday night. His mother was 51 when Craig was born. His mom married nine times, and her difficulty with relationships was evident. Since his mom was older, she was friends with his classmates’ grandmothers rather than their mothers, and this was an awkward situation. Craig was given a car at 14. He was drinking & driving at an early age.
Craig attended Ole Miss and played on the football team. This was the early 80s. At 19, he was doing cocaine and drinking. An ankle injury as a junior in college prompted him to quit school and get into the music business. He was a drummer and played the local clubs on weekends and worked the door during the week.
In 1985, at age 22, he married a girl who joined him in his drug and alcohol abuse. Later his wife and child were killed in an auto accident.
His addiction skyrocketed after the loss. He stayed in the music business for 10 years and in the bar scene for 20 years. He was high 24 hours a day. He stayed in those surroundings where the drugs and alcohol freely flowed. Not much comfort can be found in a room with only a mat to sleep on and no bathroom.
He made an effort at sobriety and moved in with his mother. He gave up the bar and music scene and worked in the family business. He managed to stay clean for two years. The day his mom died, he relapsed. His addiction took him back to the same crack house and the same people. Nothing had changed. Craig was heavy into addiction for the next eight years. With his inheritance from his mom, he bought a house and a new car and blew the rest on drugs and alcohol. He became reclusive. He didn’t leave his house for six months. His brother took legal steps to stop this merry-go-round of addiction. Craig was declared incorrigible by the court, and he was no longer entitled to money from his mother’s estate. Craig lost his home and his friends, and he was out of money. He felt desperate. In his addiction, Craig had been prosecuted on several assault charges. For the last one, against his brother, Craig agreed to a plea bargain of 90 days in the state hospital for drug and alcohol rehab rather than jail time. He left treatment on foot and walked to the nearest liquor store and got drunk.
At this point, Craig knew he had a serious problem. He had lost everybody and everything. But he continued using and supported his habit by dealing drugs. In the following two years he had checked into treatment twice. After each 30-day stay, he would relapse. After the last relapse, he checked into the Salvation Army in downtown Memphis. There he met a man who was a counselor and a pastor. He became Craig’s spiritual advisor. Craig was an atheist, but he had finally found a higher power. That was six years ago.
Craig has since received a degree in Biblical studies. He attended Memphis Theological Seminary and received a Master’s in addiction counseling. All these positive changes did not make him immune to relapse. Craig was living on campus at MTS working toward his Master’s in Divinity when he became involved with a lady in recovery. Before long, they both relapsed. He went to class drunk and was expelled from school. Craig landed in a treatment facility and left after four days, but he has been sober for 19 months now.
Today Craig attends at least one 12-Step meeting a day, works closely with a sponsor and stays involved in service work and church. He has found a church that understands addiction. The 12-Step program has brought him closer to a God of his understanding. He told me it “brought God down to a level he could relate to.” At 49, Craig doesn’t have a safe place of his own. He doesn’t have a car, he doesn’t have a job, and felony charges have made the challenge of securing a job more difficult. The repercussions of his addiction are still with him. But what Craig does have is gratitude, humility and a spirit that keeps shining when everything around him is dark. He carries the AA Big Book and Life Recovery Bible in his backpack at all times. He proudly shared with me his favorite verse. He gets where he needs to be by walking or riding the bus. Craig says, “God didn’t let me die so I could save someone else from going through the pain I went through.”
Craig’s many brushes with death didn’t show him the light. He says, “I never saw the light, I saw the darkness… I was always going the other way; I think I’m going the right way now.” Craig has found the spiritual guidance he had missed all of his life. It’s leading him the right way and shining a light upon him in his journey.
His spirit has touched me and my life has been enriched by his story…